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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28762182">Nightmare on Hargreeves Avenue</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/OfTheVoid/pseuds/OfTheVoid'>OfTheVoid</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Diego Whumpfics [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Umbrella Academy (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Diego Hargreeves Whump, Whump, suffer you fools</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 05:06:54</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,711</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28762182</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/OfTheVoid/pseuds/OfTheVoid</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Diego is in hiding, barely escaping their supposedly darker other halves while they figure out a plan to fix the new timeline.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Diego Whumpfics [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2108712</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Nightmare on Hargreeves Avenue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>what can I say I apparently like writing whump. This is new for me, though. Maybe give me constructive criticism? I don't read much whump, so I'm not sure what I'm doing.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>
    <span>Diego squinted through blurry vision and tried to block the sun from his eyes as he attempted to understand his surroundings. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Sun?</span>
  <em>
    <span> He dropped his hand, realizing he was inside and that the light overhead was fading quickly. Everything felt oddly… bigger than he remembered it being. He tried to understand why he suddenly felt so small, but before he could answer his own question a sparrow squawked unexpectedly from beside him. Diego jumped as it took flight, but followed it toward the light source, The bird sang loud and off-key as the sound of its wings echoed off the walls of the empty academy and Diego followed it’s song all the way to the foyer. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>He pushed through the closed front doors and skidded to a halt, standing on the stairway of the police station where Patch worked. A pang shot through his chest and he took a shaky step back, looking around at his abnormally large surroundings. They were the same as he remembered, not a thing out of place. Either way, he didn’t have time to reminisce. The sparrow was escaping, but just as he moved to follow it a girl’s voice caught his attention. She was speaking Indian, and Diego knew who she’d be even as he turned to look. She was small. Maybe four or five at most, in a very American looking dress with a bow in her hair. Her back was to him, and she was collecting something from the ground. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Lila stood and faced him, presenting a small seashell in her tiny hands for his inspection. As he drew near to appraise her gift, he realized why the world felt so much bigger. In fact, it was </span>
  </em>
  <span>him</span>
  <em>
    <span> who was somehow smaller. Odd since he didn’t feel childlike at all, but that wasn’t really the point. She didn’t hand him the shell when he reached her, instead dropping it between them and stepping forward to leave a kiss on his cheek and then dance away with a giggle. As he watched her leave, she ran toward two people standing with their backs to him at the edge of a cliff, which appeared to hang over a rapidly moving ocean. One figure was taller, dressed in a suit and holding a black umbrella. </span>
  </em>
  <span>No. </span>
  <em>
    <span>The other was dressed like she was made for the 1960's, curled blonde hair neatly trained beneath a hat and veil with a large flower on top. </span>
  </em>
  <b>No.</b>
  <em>
    <span> The Handler turned to greet young Lila as she reached them, arms waving over her head and shouting what he could only assume to be terms of endearment. “Wait!” He finally cried, watching as she was swung into the air by a woman who didn’t so much as spare him a glance. “Stop!” he cried again, legs moving as if through butter to get to her. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>The Handler cooed affectionately at her, but her tone was all wrong. It was low, menacing and cruel. “Please, stop!” He begged, trying with all his might to move forward. Arms reaching but never growing closer. She soon handed the girl over to Reginald, and Lila giggled and cried happily as she was tossed once, twice, three times into the air. With a brief glance over his shoulder, as if he </span>
  </em>
  <b>
    <em>knew</em>
  </b>
  <em>
    <span> Diego was there, Reggie tossed Lila over the edge of the cliff. She never stopped laughing, even as he voice faded and disappeared altogether. The two figures remained where they stood, overlooking the cliff side as it swiftly moved out of Diego’s view. Before he could process anything else, the sparrow returned and squawked insistently at him, flapping its wings angrily and circling his head. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Okay. Okay!” He shouted, his voice raw from shouting and tears staining his red cheeks, the boy swatted it away with his hands and followed it further into the forest. </span>
  </em>
  <span>Forest? </span>
  <em>
    <span>He didn’t have time to think about that, as they drew nearer the source of the light from the academy. “Ben?” Diego cried, his legs picking up speed and moving him faster. Why wasn’t he getting closer? But the bird...was. The bird was getting closer. It landed on Ben’s shoulder, and the young boy grinned up at the small creature. Oh how beautiful, that grin. It belonged to </span>
  </em>
  <b>
    <em>his</em>
  </b>
  <em>
    <span> Ben. The one who died tragically, twice, trying to protect his family. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Dark Ben turned away from the Sparrow with a sickening smirk, his clothes shifting and changing color until they were bloodied and covered in dirt and grass stains. Diego blinked and suddenly, the forest was gone, as was the light. Instead, he stood in an empty field surrounded by his family. They were all small. Barely older than five or six, if that. And giggling. All of them, giggling and laughing wildly as they watched him. Why were they laughing? “Don’t be shy, Diego!” Suddenly, he was drawn forward as if sucked out of a moving vehicle, violently thrown forward and dropped to the ground at Ben’s feet. The others weren’t laughing anymore, and the Sparrow lay twitching in front of him. “Join us!’ Ben’s eyes glowed a deep green, dark like the ocean or a forest at night when Diego finally peered up at him. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“What?”  The boy asked, his voice shaking and cracking with fear as he glanced around at the children. Suddenly there were more. He counted ten of them. The Sparrows and the Umbrellas, minus one. Hey all stared at him expectantly, and he looked down at the sparrow but it was gone. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Don’t be a fool!” Reginald shouted, and when Diego looked up he was shoving a full grown Klaus out the front door of the academy. </span>
  </em>
  <span>What? When did we get back here? <em>Diego asked himself.</em></span>
  <em>
    <span> “You </span>
  </em>
  <span>will</span>
  <em>
    <span> learn to control your powers and to access the ethereal realm, or you will suffer the consequences!” Bile rose in the small boy’s throat and every muscle itched to stop his father from putting his hands on Klaus again. But when he looked down, his feet were held in place, gnarled roots twisting around and around, digging into his skin and leaving marks all the way up to his knees. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Help me, Klaus!” he cried, reaching for his brother. Tears blurred his vision again, and he could feel them dripping off his chin. He couldn’t remember when he’d started crying. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>The older brother stepped forward, eyes brimming with tears of his own, and dropped to his knees in front of Diego. “I’m so sorry.” He sobbed, eyes closing with the force of his guilt. “-Sorry, Diego.” Before the boy could respond, Klaus set his hand on the young boy's face. It glowed blue, and a searing pain shot through his head. Diego screamed and cried in pain, but it was muffled and static as if playing through a radio that just couldn’t catch a wave. The sound kept warbling and shifting, growing deeper and then higher in pitch until Klaus ripped his hand away, and with it came a blue tinted version of his brother. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Setting the blue entity of Diego on his feet before himself, Klaus set his hands on the spirit’s shoulders and looked him deep in the eyes. “You have to do this, Di.” He said on a sob. “He’ll kill us. You have to.” Diego’s soulless body gasped and struggled to breath beside them, falling to the ground and reaching for...something, anything in his path. Young Diego’s spirit shook and gasped, shaken and disoriented from the experience. “Do it!” Klaus shouted, harsh and raw, and shook the boy by his shoulders. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>In that moment, pain seared through his abdomen and he screamed, in pain or fear Diego didn’t know, but as he felt himself being suspended in the air he screamed Klaus’s name. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>His brother did nothing, merely watching with a look of awe on his face. “I knew you could.” He praised Diego, hands pressed together as if he were praying. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Go on, now. Join us.” Said the sparrow children in unison, staring up at him with chilling smiles.  tThe small boy closed his eyes and waited. He waited and waited and waited and waited. Finally he hit the ground with a thud, the air leaving his lung and leaving him breathless for a moment before he stood. When he finally got a look around, Klaus was the only one left. “Good.” He said, smiling down at Diego, but there was something under it. Something like fear. “Now just one more.” The older Hargreeve stood, and as Diego looked around himself he saw the bodies of the others scattered about the yard. “What happened?” He asked, looking desperately at Klaus. His throat felt raw, as if he’d spent the day gurgling glass. It didn’t sound like it, though. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“You did.” Said their father, his tone sharpening, growing colder. Diego looked to where Reggie had been in the doorway, but the academy was gone again. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Now we just have to finish the job.” Pulling out a knife, Klaus looked at Diego. “Hold still, this won’t hurt.” </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Wha-” Diego didn’t have time to think, because in the next moment the knife was flying blade first right toward his face. He reacted on instinct and ducked, turning his body away and arching out of it’s path. Silence once again consumed him, and when he took another look around Klaus, too, was lying among the bodies of his family. </span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>With a shout and a startle, Diego sat up in bed. HIs hair stuck to his face everywhere and his chest heaved with shuddering breaths. He was alone again, lying in an all too familiar bed in an all too familiar safe house. The only one here for months, except for the occasional visit from Five. They never lasted. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Taking in a shallow but calming breath and letting it out on a long sigh, Diego buried his face in the pillow and tried to remind himself of the truth. He was alive. Klaus was alive. The Umbrellas </span>
  <em>
    <span>and</span>
  </em>
  <span> the Sparrows were fine, as far as he knew. And Five wouldn’t have hesitated to let him know if something changed. They were finding a way to fix this. Slowly, but… surely. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Things were as normal as they could be. That was enough. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I warned you. Anyway, thoughts?</p></blockquote></div></div>
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